Arbotix and Bluetooth Bee and Android

Hi, I'm new here.

My main project is http://pianocheater.com
but I signed up for FIRST robotics last year (and this one).
And nowwww I'm interested in robotics.
(I'm a software mentor guy with FIRST FRC 1178 Chillout team).

I asked on the email list, but they mentioned to come here

I'm thinkin' on how to make an android phone the brains of a bioloid servo'd robot.Also, if it had wheels, that'd be great, too.I think Arbotix has a dual motor controller including encoder connections.

1) What would be some decent motors,encoders for it?(it's be, ohh, say 12 servos, the phone, a couple light sensors - pretty light.
I'd like to make it do fast line following if that's practical.)

This Arbotix board seems perfect for controlling the servos.And I'm pretty sure I can make an Android app that'll connect up to another bluetooth capable device.

Re: Arbotix and Bluetooth Bee and Android

aaand some further questions about the arbotix board:

4) Does the Arbotix board completely replace the bioloid controller?
Could I get a frameset, battery, servowireconnectorsset, and some
servos and the Arbotix board and be DONE?
Are there software or anything else in the basic kit I'd need?
oh yeah, the screwdrivers for the frameset i suppose.
Anything else I'd need? OH!

5) Can I use my existing AVR in circuit programmer (usb -> 6 pin connector)
to do all the Arbotix downloading?

Re: Arbotix and Bluetooth Bee and Android

4) Yes, it replaces the CM-5xx during operation. We have a separate, cross-platform, completely open-source, pose editor program (PyPose) which is different, but similar to the Bioloid software. I personally feel that it is a stronger system, in that you can export your poses and then go to town modifying how they are played back in C/C++ code, but, since it does require a bit of C/C++ coding it is a bit more of a learning curve at the start.

5) Yep, you can do that. There are notes on our googlecode site on how to switch over to ISP downloading (you have to currently edit a text file to set it up, our next release will not need this).

Other tools you might want: Do yourself a favor and pick up the SMPS, which is a power adapter for the bioloid power brick, it is easily the best $5 you will ever spend.

Re: Arbotix and Bluetooth Bee and Android

GREAT!! Thanks very much for your help!!

I apologize about the vague motor,encoder question
But if ya know of any projects that make use of the motor drivers or encoder please fill me in
If not, no big deal. They take up little space and I can always play with em later.

So I'm gonna try writing some demo bluetooth code on my android and test out just
connectin' mine to my son's and see if I can get some traffic across.
If that works, I'll be takin' the Bluetooth BEE risk and gettin that killer arbotix.

Re: Arbotix and Bluetooth Bee and Android

Originally Posted by stephen.hazel

GREAT!! Thanks very much for your help!!

I apologize about the vague motor,encoder question
But if ya know of any projects that make use of the motor drivers or encoder please fill me in
If not, no big deal. They take up little space and I can always play with em later.

The motor drivers on the ArbotiX can handle a motor/payload this large as long as you do NOT reverse direction without a full stop -- that will pull too much current and pop the driver (if you do happen to pop the driver, it only costs about $2 to get a replacement chip from Digikey).

If I were spec'ing motors today, I would probably look at the cheaper Pololu motors (http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/51) with integrated encoders that save about $10-15 per motor/encoder pair. The 37MM versions are the same size as the Lynx motors above, the 25MM are a bit smaller.

Re: Arbotix and Bluetooth Bee and Android

Thanks YEt again. I ordered the control system stuff, plus the brick I'd need for the recharger anyways and the $5 adapter to dynamixel power.
Starting the android bluetooth research.
Looks like you can make an android read a wiimote pretty easy.
Oh well, even if the bluetooth bee doesn't fly, I can just go back to the regular sort.

Ok, now I read some more n wait for the mail. I appreciate your help!!